Editorial Staff

Social Media

When the feeble limits of human communication have been unable to resolve pressing matters, mankind has been forced to fall back on primitive decision-making techniques; the coin toss, scissors, paper, stone and the like. But now ChambersJudd and animator Ed Barrett have come up with Ready, Steady, Bang an interactive way to make the call and move on, brought to life through the death of a tiny cowboy. We spoke to ChambersJudd ahead of today’s launch to find out more.

ChambersJudd: Ready Steady Bang

Hi guys, tell us about Ready Steady Bang. What was the inspiration behind it?

It’s a super simple, super sexy Iphone/Ipad game. We wanted to create a game that focuses on the character, choosing to avoid mathematic based imagery such as physics engines and particle effects.

Whimsical games from the 1980s and 1990s like Lemmings and Cannon Fodder manage to negate their violent content by being utterly charming and that’s what we have tried to achieve with the cowboy in RSB.

Why did you decide to base it on cowboys?

Because of the guns and hats. The deaths would have been much less interesting without them. It was a toss-up between cowboys or pirates. If only we’d had RSB at that point to help decide the argument – alas we settled for a coin toss.

We understand there are 30 ways the cowboy can die, was it hard to come up with so many? Was that quite a weird few days at work?

Technically there are 31, although the 31st will probably never be seen as it is only unlocked when the player beats the final level. By nature animators are fixated with death and mortality so it was fairly easy to think of wild and wonderful ways for the cowboy to meet his maker. In fact, we hope to release more deaths as free updates in the near future!

How long did the app take from first idea to completion?

About two months from the initial spark. It was born out of a pub conversation in which we discussed numerous ideas. However, RSB seemed to tick all the right boxes, being simple and satisfying and it catered to our talents.

What are you working on next?

We hope to get the android version sorted alongside supporting the game with updates and new content. We want to keep the cowboy alive as we feel he is such a strong character. However, there have been discussions about a new game, – its working title is Project Dandelion and it may rear its head in 2012.

More like this:

SuperHi is an online school and worldwide community of creative people learning to code, together. The world of coding can be an incredibly confusing one. It’s a minefield of symbols and terminology with what feels like an infinite pool of knowledge you’re expected to learn, however, SuperHi explains this intimidating world in manageable online courses.

The problem with the relative newness of media like video, digital and internet art is that unlike a canvas or a sculpture, people can struggle with the ideas of how to show, sell and “own” them. In a culture where film, gifs and other forms of creative work are available online, everywhere, to many people the idea of what is and isn’t art, and how you own it, is confusing. While everyone accepts that video art and digital art are still valid and important media; there are few organisations making the leap into viewing them in the commercial art world in the same way we would more traditional formats.

Earlier this year we found ourselves mesmerised by a series of floating dismembered boobs, gently bobbing about to the sound of rather NSFW Craigslist ads read aloud. This project – Love Letters from Craig – perhaps makes it crystal clear why its creators at Cartelle Interactive were approached by Adult Swim to create content for its new online platform Etctera. The agency’s cheeky, surreal concepts seem the perfect match for the channel; and the piece they worked on, Giraffaconda, took the form of a game based around a “floppy neck giraffe.”

Alongside its power to host a gif for every occasion, help avoid forming actual awkward physical connections with people in pubs and enable easy cheating for GCSEs/degrees/wayward spouses, the internet is glorious for its breadth. You name it, you can read about it on the internet – and you can almost undoubtedly see a video of it too. But while this never-ending stream of moving image is a blessing, it can also be a curse. With so much there, it’s incredibly tricky to find something you actually want to watch. It’s a problem digital creative Marc Kremers felt needed addressing, and the catalyst for his creation of new video platform vvatch.

Back in 2005, when people still talked about Pete Doherty on Libertines forums and Tony Blair was still Prime Minister and this writer was still in short trousers, a man named Nicholas Felton somehow managed to set the bar for the “quantified self” movement that’s exploded over the last few years. And boy, did he set that bar high, creating an Annual Report each year that laid out his personal data, from weight to how many miles he’d flown to the books he’d read and the photographs he’d taken.

Multidisciplinary artist Beni Bischof’s latest book Bambi is the result of him watching the 1942 Disney classic, Bambi for four weeks straight and painting hundreds of works while sitting in front of the screen. “I didn’t want to illustrate the movie. I just wanted to paint while watching and hearing the movie. The words, colours and shapes make up the paintings and I took everything I thought of and expressed it somehow on the paper,” explains the Swiss artist.

The official magazine of the Bauhaus Centenary in 2019 has begun its biannual run, and rather than focusing entirely on the historical, it aims to “deal with modernity as an attitude instead of a style”. Bauhaus Now is designed by Berlin studio Stan Hema, which also designed the visual identity for the entire centenary. Its aesthetic aims to convey the magazine’s remit to analyse the ethos of the iconic German school and movement in a contemporary context.

Derek Brahney set up his studio in Brooklyn after working freelance for a few years as a way to officially separate his commercial work from his artistic practice. “I had gotten to the point where I could finally (barely) afford to rent a small studio space, which felt like somewhat of a milestone,” Derek explains. So when he acquired his new studio he decided to celebrate the fact and name it New Studio, of course.

“I’ve never taken my foot off the gas,” says Ewen Spencer, a photographer known for his nostalgic and candid shots of youth culture. “I make these pictures essentially for myself, and one of the reasons they succeed and aren’t obnoxious is, we’ve all been there. I certainly have.”

Blockchain is a decentralised and distributed digital ledger that is used to record transactions across many computers with a view to facilitate secure online proceedings. It’s a technology that’s in its infancy, meaning general understanding of blockchain is fairly ambiguous, despite its potential being so vast.

The team behind Brick magazine have long impressed us with a triple threat of head-pivoting design skills, attention-holding written features and a proven knack for securing hip hop talent: Wiz Khalifa made it onto the cover of issue one, and the magazine has become a who’s who of hip hop’s finest nascent and established stars ever since.

“I believe graphic design can change the world,” opens Lucienne Roberts from GraphicDesign&, speaking with Rebecca Wright at Nicer Tuesdays. The two – Lucienne a designer and Rebecca an educator – who run the publishing house, recently co-curated and designed the Wellcome Collection’s Can Graphic Design Save Your Life? show. Let loose on the institution’s vast archive, the pair discovered hundreds of items that spotlight design’s influence on human health over centuries.From vintage cigarette packaging to wartime condom wrappers, and more contemporary examples of pioneering creative schemes to combat health issues, the material Lucienne and Rebecca flit through in this talk is fascinating and enlightening. “We wanted to invite people in, and be provocative. It’s bold, it lays its cards on the table. Designers aren’t just involved in the subtlety of messages, they’re playful and part of the relationship with the viewer, that can sometimes be surprising.”

A new magazine launched by British-Indian journalist Debika Ray reflects on the diversity and cultural phenomena of South Asia, and the spread of its influence worldwide. Focusing on India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan, as well as its vast global diaspora, Clove covers everything from art, film, photography, design and music to political, architectural and culinary movements.

Oslo-based design student Simen Royseland has published a zine called Enchiridion, inspired by the ancient Greek philosophy Stoicism – a philosophy of personal ethics informed by a system of logic and views on the natural world. “I was trying to get a sense of my own interpretation of its ideas, and then came upon the concept of Enchiridion – a small book containing condensed information on a subject – and it kinda became obvious I had to make my own,” says Simen on his inspiration for the project.

Jordy van den Nieuwendijk is like an old pal who comes to visit us from time to time. Over the course of his career we have written about his joy-filled paintings countless times, always charmed by his distinct wit and smile-inducing colour palette. So, of course when Jordy let us know of a new show Time Out — Knock Out at Ninasagt in Düsseldorf, we were bowled over by his work yet again.

Catalogue Library is back with the eighth issue of its “up-to-date representation of varied design and art practices from around the world,” – Library Paper. “Giving readers an insight into the artist’s process,” previous issues focused on “romance” and “the new” and this time Catalogue Library settled on the theme of “trips”. Although this could be interpreted at “trippy”, it also denotes a literary trip somewhere, or a literal journey through the publication.

Belly dancers are one of the most popular of Turkish cultural exports, but somewhere in recent history, zennes — male belly dancers — have been forgotten. “They have been part of Turkey’s culture for a long time. I always watched them on TV, especially on New Year’s Eve,” photographer Olgaç Bozalp explains. Now, zenne dancers are few and far between. “I am guessing it’s not appropriate in the public eye anymore,” Olgaç reasons. “I think people in Turkey are interested their performances as it’s an old tradition, but I’m not sure if every family would support their son to be a male belly dancer.”

Alex Grigg’s animated short film Born in a Void is utterly enveloping – not least because of the hypnotic use of perspective, shape and colour the animator used to create an interstellar landscape. This, partnered with the jazz-infused soundtrack, create a unique world for Alex’s abstract characters.

There are multiple reasons why people may visit It’s Nice That. Maybe to catch up on the creative industries, to research into new illustrators, photographers or graphic designers, or maybe just to procrastinate while they’re at work. Whatever the reason, we hope our readers enjoy themselves and are guaranteed a nice, positive time. So when we were asked to design a watch in collaboration with Timex, encapsulating this feeling in a time-based way was our main concern.

What do you get when you combine the genie of a lamp living with a bunch of floating eggs? A brilliantly weird animation by Andrew Onorato called Geenie Reenie, that’s what. “The short is about Genie Reenie checking his emails and helping out his friend Dozen, who is a bunch of eggs,” explains Andrew. “They all live together in a house with their friends, some of whom don’t feature in this short.”

Lecture in Progress inspires and informs the next generation of talent with advice, insight and first-hand accounts that demystify the day-to-day workings of the creative industry. Parts of the Process is a series of articles exploring how creative projects unfold – from briefing stage through to the techniques that bring ideas to life.

Courage is one of the foremost characteristics any graduate needs when they leave school or university. This is often true of the creative industry more than many other trades as students are expected to get out there, show off their work and network despite never really doing it before. This expectation of courage is the focus of a new calendar by students in Eike König’s class at HfG Offenbach and includes some familiar illustration faces, but also a host of very, very exciting new talent.

More than a manufacturer of city-friendly cars, smart sees itself as a concept born to shake up the status quo. The outlet for the brand’s message smart magazine, which describes itself as “a place for stories about visionaries and creative urbaneers, about projects and initiatives that help to improve life in the city.”

It’s a world which reaches far, far beyond cars. smart magazine has positioned itself as an expert on experimental urban architecture with a suite of articles on vertical gardening, a concept which frees up space in busy cities and has hugely positive environmental affects at the same time. Win/win! We’ve rounded up three articles from smart magazine, which will tell you everything you need to know about vertical gardening and why it has the power to keep our cities clean.

Dani Pujalte’s series Cultural Containers documents a host of newly created cultural spaces which have jeopardised autonomous culture on budgetary grounds. The included photos portray a considered and mediated approach which convey Dani’s opinions on the ostentation politics which have meant many of these buildings have not been completed.

When looking through the projects of Russian-born, American-raised photographer Irina Rozovsky the immediate theme is the global ground she has covered with her camera. From Yugoslavia to a three year ongoing project in the US, then to Cuba and Israel before heading back to her birth place Russia, Irina’s lens doesn’t have many boundaries in terms of its content.

Berlin-based designer Elias Hanzer adapts his style depending on the project and works best when “everyone involved is excited about the task and is open to new things”. With a series of publications, typefaces and a poster series added to his portfolio since the last time we checked in with the designer, it’s clear Elias has been pushing his approach and experimenting with his methods.

Social media pedestals the here and now, networks lure us in with a never-ending scroll of breaking news. YouTube is a battleground for saw-it-first comments, but dig past trending videos and you’ll find a community who trade memories of a hazy, half-remembered past. In the comments section of ‘90s rave anthems linger a group of ex-ravers who have passed up nights spent in sweating in fields for suburban lives in satellite towns. The pills have long worn off, but the comedown lingers in the bittersweet memories which come alive when they close their eyes.

Photographer Robert Rutoed has spent the last 10 years on “an expedition through the grotesque realm of must-haves and mega-trends.” For the past decade the Austrian photographer has visited trade shows and exhibitions across the world and documented what he saw. He has now published the series Fair(y) Tales, which is a whistlestop and frequently bizarre romp that takes a peek into the commercialised worlds of undertaking, sex, cattle and more. It’s Nice That caught up with Robert to find out more.

London-based illustrator David Biskup’s work has that quality that many strive for but not all achieve: it is instantly recognisable. Through a combination of simple shapes, consistent lines and block colours he creates Where’s Wally-esque busy scenes that are full of humour and intrigue. We featured some of David’s work nearly three years ago and since then he has been getting commission after commission whilst expanding his personal practice.

This week’s Best of the Web is coming to you from a very chilly place indeed, but it’s ok – we’ve got jumpers, thick socks and warm crumpets on the go, so we’re at optimum hygge level or whatever the 2017 equivalent for cosiness is. For this week’s addition, we’ve got a response to Trump for using Comic Sans in a statement (smh), a look at 100 years of public health marketing and a video interview with Jay Z from The New York Times.

“With a brief about creativity and criminality, a graphical direction referencing spray paint and street-art was initially exactly what we didn’t want do to,” explains Antwerp-based design studio Mirror Mirror, “but we kept returning to it, thinking to ourselves: ‘It’s a cliche not to use a cliche’.” This year, the multi-disciplinary studio was tasked with creating the visual identity for Integrated 2017 and its answer was a series of faux-in-situ visuals and a “post-real” poster campaign.

Wanderer follows the thoughts of a man and his struggles to stay grounded in a moment. Animated by Chicago-based Alex Moy, we’re invited into the protagonist’s world and we begin to “pick up on the very small ticks of the room around him”, leading to a “visual rhythm that hypnotises the viewer”. Throughout the animated short reality becomes blurred and the idea we’re travelling through someone’s conscious is reinforced.

This week’s Friday Mixtape is curated by Jake Chapman. Known mainly as one half of revered and purposefully shocking YBA sibling duo Jake and Dinos Chapman, today the artist lets us in on his musical tastes and introduces us to his band, Funhole.